Lovin' From the Oven

Beef, Mushrooms & Green Beans

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I think I’m having serious withdrawals from authentic Mexican food. I haven’t had a burrito in over 2 months. What’s wrong with this picture? I used to eat at Campo’s, my favorite hometown Mexican restaurant, at LEAST once a week. Now, I’m deprived of my bean and cheese burrito.

Anyone know of good authentic Mexican restaurants around Berkeley? Perhaps one to combat with Campo’s unbeatable salsa?

Here’s another easy dinner meal that takes about 20 minutes to prepare. I’m a fan of recipes that stick to around 5 ingredients, give or take. You get your protein, vegetables, and flavor, all in one. I served it with garlic mashed potatoes, which complimented the meal wonderfully, but you can also serve it over white rice.

Beef, Mushrooms, & Green Beans
Click here for a printable recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1/2 cup crimini mushrooms, washed & sliced
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp oyster sauce
  • pinch of garlic salt
  • handful of green beans
Directions
  1. Heat up a pot of water and boil the green beans for 5 minutes.
  2. Warm up the olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Add the ground beef, oyster sauce, garlic salt and lightly brown.
  3. Add the mushrooms to the pan and let the mixture sauté together.
  4. While you’re sautéing the mushrooms, strain the green beans.
  5. When the meat has fully cooked and the mushrooms are soft, add the green beans and continue to cook for another five minutes. Take a taste and add more salt if necessary.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

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As I promised, a real food recipe! Now I’ve officially added savory to my blog of sweets. Say hello to garlic mashed potatoes.

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Dicing potatoes. There’s so much prep work in cooking. Uffff… I don’t know of I can get used to this.

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Boiling.

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Draining.

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Throw it all into your handy dandy Kitchenaid and let it do the work.

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Not bad, huh? I think you’re normally supposed to mash the potatoes by hand, but I don’t own a potato masher so my fallback was my Kitchenaid. She’s always there when I need her. The result? A creamy, buttery bowl of goodness.

Mashed potatoes are like the chocolate chip cookie of the baking world. You can add mix-ins and it’s still forgiving. It’s hard to make bad mashed potatoes. If it’s too thick, add more milk. Want it even thicker? Use sour cream instead. Don’t like herbs? Add bacon. Want it richer? You guessed it.. add more butter. Experiment your tender heart away, using this recipe as more of a guideline than a “to the T” recipe.

  • 6-7 medium russet potatoes
  • 1/4 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 cup of milk 
  • 1 stick of butter
  • 2 tsp salt (plus additional for boiling)
  • dash of pepper
  1. Peel the skin from potatoes. Dice each potato into 16 pieces (cut into half and then cut each half into 8th’s)
  2. Place the diced potatoes, minced garlic, and a generous pinch of salt into a pot filled with cold water.
  3. Bring the water to a boil and then cook the potatoes on medium heat for approximately 25 minutes, until the potato is easily pierced with a fork.
  4. When the potatoes are done cooking, drain and let sit. While sitting, melt the butter in a pan and stir in the milk. Bring to a simmer and pour it into a Kitchenaid bowl with the cooked potatoes. 
  5. Turn the Kitchenaid on low and gradually work the speed up to medium. Add the salt and mix until creamy.
  6. Take a taste and adjust appropriately to your tastes. I topped mine with an oregano/parsley mix.

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